Shipping and piling container with runner rollers and supporting means



March 17, 1959 K. DAHMEN ET AL 2,

SHIPPING AND FILING CONTAINER WITH RUNNER ING MEANS ROLLERS AND SUPPORT Filed Feb. 20, 1956 IN VE N 705% N KARL 0 wall LUTTERS By 8 7 ATTYJ.

United States Patent SHIPPING AND PILING CONTAINER WITH RUN- NER ROLLERS AND SUPPORTING MEANS Karl Dahmen and Willi Liitters, Solingen-Ohligs, Germany, assignors to Fazit Gesellsclraft fiir Transporttechmk m. b. H., Solingen-Ohligs, Germany Application February 20, 1956, Serial No. 566,722 Claims priority, application Germany February 21, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 280-44) This invention relates to special receptacles and packages, and more specifically to a shipping and piling container with runner rollers and supporting means.

The object of the invention is to equip a container, already provided with supporting feet or a base frame, with at least two runner rollers, so that by a simple manipulation with the aid of these runner rollers the container can, without any difficulty, be deposited on the ground, piled up with other similar containers and, if required, lifted oif the ground ready for shifting.

According to the invention, the shipping and piling container comprises a bottom, side walls, a cover hingedly connected to one of the side walls, supporting means extending downwards from the container for resting it on the ground, a two-armed stirrup extending across and embracing the container and with each free end of its arms being pivotally mounted at opposite sides of the container, at least two runner rollers provided at opposite sides of the container, and movable means carrying said runner rollers, said free ends of said two-armed stirrup engaging said movable means for lifting and lowering the container with respect to the runner rollers and in correspondence with the direction of swinging movement of the two-armed stirrup.

When the stirrup is in its raised or vertical position, in which it can be used as carrier arm for transporting the container by a crane, the supporting means, i. e. the supporting feet or the base frame of the container, rest on the ground, whereas the runner rollers are slightly raised therefrom. If it is desired to shift the container, the stirrup is swung towards one side or the other until the runner rollers bear against the ground and raise the container until its supporting feet or its base frame are or is clear of the ground. The stirrup also serves as a means for pulling or pushing the container or for connecting it to another container or coupling it to a motordriven tractor.

According to one feature of the invention, the stirrup is pivotally mounted on the container and has welded on the end of each of its arms an elliptical plate cam and the two plate cams engage the two projecting ends of a vertically shiftable axle carrying the runner rollers of the container.

With the aid of the plate cams of the two-armed stirrup the container, especially when it is to be connected to a second container and the stirrup must be swung for this purpose into horizontal position, can be lifted from the ground a greater distance than is possible by eccentrically mounting the runner rollers.

Other features of the invention will be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the container, the pivotally mounted stirrup of which rolls by means of elliptical plate cams arranged on the ends of its arms on two projecting ends of an axle carrying the runner rollers;

Fig. 2 is a cross section through the container;

Fig. 3 shows in elevation and in their initial positions a plate cam mounted on one end of the axle of the runner rollers and the arm of the stirrup coordinated to this plate cam;

Fig. 4 is an elevation showing a plate cam when the stirrup is in inclined position;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a plate cam when the stirrup is in horizontal position.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 of the drawing, the shipping and piling container is provided with a bottom 1 having supporting feet 11, the runner rollers 7 being mounted on a common axle 12 which is vertically shiftable in bearings 13 serving at the same time as supporting feet and which is acted upon by a spiral spring 15 fitted in a U-shaped supporting foot 14 depending from the bottom 1 of the container. The stirrup 9 pivoted on the container carries at the end of each of its arms a plate cam 16 centered on the arm pivots, having substantially the shape of an ellipse and with which they engage the ends of the axle 12 projecting from the bearings 13.

When the stirrup 9 is swung over, the axle 12 with the runner rollers 7 is pressed downwards by the plate cams 16 until the runner rollers 7 bear against the ground and the container is raised so far that it can be pushed or pulled. When the stirrup 9 is brought back into its initial position, the spiral spring 15 elevates the axle 12 with the runner rollers 7 into its initial position, in which the container rests with its supporting feet 11 on the ground.

From the above detailed description of the invention, it is believed that the construction will at once be apparent, and While there is herein shown and described preferred embodiment of the invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

We claim:

A shipping and piling container comprising a bottom, side walls, a cover hingedly connected to one of said side walls, supporting feet extending downwardly from the container for resting it on the ground, at least two runner roller bearings having slots therein at opposite sides of the container adjacent the bottom thereof and also constituting supporting feet, a common transverse axle extending across and below the bottom of the container and projecting at its ends outwardly through said slots in the runner roller bearings, a two-armed stirrup straddling the container and having each free end of its arms pivotally mounted on opposite sides of the container adjacent the bottom thereof and above said axle ends and a substantially elliptical cam plate secured to each free end of said stirrup and adapted to act upon said axle ends on swinging of said stirrup for vertical adjustment of said runner rollers between a raised inoperative position and a lowered operative position and spring means for normally holding the axle ends and runner rollers journaled thereon in an elevated inoperative position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,675,246 Arones Apr. 13, 1954 2,783,055 Michaud Feb. 26, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 237,881 Germany Nov. 6, 1919 

